UT Sweatshirt
I kept my sweatshirt with short sleeves;
gray with an orange UT in the center.
It is one of the few things I have kept from my college days.
Used it to warm-up before racket ball.
Folded neatly in the bureau, I take it out sometimes thinking
I will wear it but I don’t. I want to keep it just for the memories
of basketball practice, running the stairs, eating cheeseburgers
and fries after every practice. (By the time practice was over, the cafeteria was closed.)
Forty years old, looks good; I keep it with the light blue t-shirt
with UT Women’s Athletics, on the front;
we’ve come a long way baby on the back. Must of gotten this one after Title IX.
We sold doughnuts to fund our field hockey and basketball, used our own cars
to get from game to game. Rock Hill South Carolina for a tournament
was a big trip for trip us. Not the same today, the women have home
and away uniforms, warm-ups, airplanes to get from coast to coast.
No eating cheeseburgers every night.
Don’t know how long I will keep the sweatshirt,
I have carried it with me from Knoxville, Kentucky, Memphis and North Carolina.
I refold it and put it back with the t shirts.
I guess it will be given away to Good Will.
Muddy River Poetry Review
Spring 2016
